There are a few songs out there that get immediate reactions from me. Some songs that fall under this category: Outkast’s“Git Up, Git Out”, Biggie’s “Kick In The Door”, T.I.’s “B-Eazy” (Obviously). But then there are some songs that will make me cold cock somebody at a moments notice. N.O.R.E’s “Banned From TV” featuring Nature, Big Pun, Styles P, Jadakiss, & Cam’ron is one of those songs (The video above could never compare to the actual song. Should have been more “I Shot Ya”).

With Weezy’s own rendition of the song off his No Ceilings mixtape, there been a lotta current talk about the track. Lil’ Wayne did the beat justice, but let’s not forget about the 1998 original.

The Opener: Nature’s Verse
I honestly think Nature’s verse here is one of the best opening verses of any Hip-Hop posse cuts ever. He killed it. That shit alone made me waist money and go out and buy the Wild Gremlinz album. But that verse still stands up 12 years later:

“Regardless of rain or snow, sleet or hail/I kick street tales, choking niggas like I’m Sprewell/Golden State, holding your fate in the palm of my hand/Blow you away like its part of the plan/I gotta call it like I see it, talk it like I be it/Walkin’ my walk, thugged out orthopedic/Cause I’m soon to be up, give me room watch me heat up/Niggas try to stick me like Abdul Lerima, follow the leader/Make me go extra hard, yo Nore should I hold back or show the repertoire/Quit at 16 or throw in extra/Bars just for the non-believers/I show them why its so hard to reach us/I get pussy with my father’s features/Puff heavenly, see me at 6′1″ weigh a buck 70/Catch me in spots yall niggas never be/Packed in like green bay/Harlem Week to Queens’ Day/Performing a capella, no DJ/98 Live, no replays/Make it seem easy, so tell a friend to tell a friend/That its them again, Nature, Noreaga, Wild Gremlins”

The Pain: Big Pun
The only one who could follow that verse on this track was Pun. It makes you say to yourself, “Oh shit. Back to back like that”. Big Punisher comes on the track talking about “Porkchops & applesauce” and “Hit your shorty while he potty training”. Crazy. Then comes my favorite quote of the whole track: “Soning niggas so long I think I gotta a grandson”. What? Do you know how many times I used that line?

“Yo, yo, champagne on the rocks/Pour on the Fort Knox Lazura/Shark salad with cabbage/Pork chops and applesauce/Twin connection, disrespect watch your body cave in/Pump the shotty gauging, hit the shorty while he potty training/I ain’t playing, I’m truly the worst/Simply the first to get his whole body fully reversed/Uzi it hurts, leave you double-dead/I’ma a bubble-head, I never listen to nothing my mother said/Ay yo i hold niggas ransom for money/Like Johnny Handsome been soning niggas for so long/I think I got a grandson/My passion is money, a stash and a honey/That won’t ask questions but will blast anybody/That’s my kind of girl, kinda of world i want to live in/Not a cell or a prison or in hell’s Armageddon/Just a little ghetto/Where my niggas control the middle/And know the riddles of life where others know only a little”

The Middle: Cam’ron, Jadakiss, & Styles P

Don’t think because I lumped these parts together it means that they were terrible. Naw. This was Cam when he was trying hard with the stutter flow and he gets in some quotables (“Your girl know I fuck her off of furlough”). And even though Kiss and Styles do the back and forth great, I thought them doing it here kinda slowed down the song. This whole portion may be the weak part, but it’s still not bad though (“And if the feds brung us in we get the same time Gotti got”).

The Closer: N.O.R.E.’s verse
Now at this point, N.O.R.E. has to be thinking; “Ain’t now way in hell I can go harder than these other dudes!”. But instead of trying to out rap the other rappers here, Noreaga used his charisma making it the sing-a-long part of the song. If you around people who know this song well, they will be yelling this part. He wins big points on crowd participation .

“A yo, there’s two ways into the hood, one plain/The other smoke chronic like straight to the brain/Ay yo lets get loose, Hennessey straight, with tomato juice/Queens stallion, my guns, fully Italian/now y’all niggas recognize medallions/I play the best hood, o-t with Tim Westwood/Used to be on section 8, now my section is good/Thugged Out niggas, we eat as much as we could/And I don’t give a fuck what! yo I save my shit/And I don’t give a fuck what! you can save your shit/Yall niggas like extra skin on my dick/Listen to Bob Marley, you funny niggas like Steve Harvey/Frontin’ live with a weak army/I play the nice guy too, I’ll smoke wit you/but the realness, I ain’t got no love for you/That’s why I never do a song with you/Not even if your babies mom fucked the crew/And promised to give us head and swallow too/I still say no, no is no, no can doe/ya niggas drinking Haterade drinking my flow”

So that’s it. A breakdown of one of the best Hip-Hop posse cuts of all time in long format.

I included the original “Banned From TV” song and the Lil’ Wayne’s version.

Download: N.O.R.E. feat Nature, Big Pun, Cam’ron, Jadakiss, & Styles P – “Banned From TV”
Download: Lil’ Wayne – “Banned From TV”

Bonus: The Making of Lil’ Wayne’s “Banned From TV”

A few Tuesday’s ago (May, 19th to be exact) we saw album releases from Busta Rhymes, Method Man/Redman, & of course, Eminem. This was so far the biggest release date of 2009. All three acts that I mentioned are veterans in the game and well respected by their peers. Another thing they have in common: They’re all over the age of 30. If you think about it, most of Hip-Hop’s elite are over the age of 30. I guess it’s no longer a young man’s game. So I was thinking, since you see a lot of lists with titles such as “25 Hottest Celebs Under 25” or “40 Richest Under 40”, why not The Best 30 Rappers Over 30? But for this list, we got set some ground rules. #1 of course is the most obvious; you gotta be over the age of 30 (That throws out people like Weezy, Lupe, Drake, & T.I.). #2, you have to be 30 as of this list (Both The Game & Joe Budden will be 30 this year, but aren’t as of yet). #3, you got to be active and releasing records with new material that’s relevant (Rakim & Big Daddy Kane are legends but they don’t make this list). Other than that, the only requirement is being 3-0 or older. So, here’s it: The Best 30 Rappers Over 30 (Ordered from oldest to youngest). 30 is the new 20! Did I forget anybody? (Update: Fabolous replaces Beanie Sigel)

Ice Cube (June 15, 1969) – 39
Jay-Z (December 4, 1969) – 39
Raekwon (January 12, 1970) – 39
Q-Tip (April 10, 1970) – 39
Redman (April 17, 1970) – 39
Ghostface Killah (May 9, 1970) – 39
Fat Joe (August 19, 1970) – 38
Scarface (November 9, 1970) – 38
DMX (December 18, 1970) – 38
Method Man (April 1, 1971) – 38
Snoop Dogg (October 20, 1971) – 37
Common (March 13, 1972) – 37
Busta Rhymes (May 20, 1972) – 37
Black Thought (October 3, 1972) – 36
Eminem (October 17, 1972) – 36
Bun B (March 19, 1973) – 36
Nas (September 14, 1973) – 35
Mos Def (December 11, 1973) – 35
Andre 3000 (May 27, 1974) – 35
Styles P (November 28, 1974) – 34
Big Boi (February 1, 1975) – 34
Jadakiss (May 27, 1975) – 34
50 Cent (July 6, 1975) – 33
Talib Kweli (October 3, 1975) – 33
Rick Ross (January 28, 1976) – 33
Cam’ron (February 4, 1976) – 33
Kanye West (June 8, 1977) – 31
Ludacris (September 11, 1977) – 31
Young Jeezy (October 12, 1977)- 31
Fabolous (November 18, 1977) – 31

This poll question isn’t a diss at Killa in any way. It’s just today the thought crossed my mind like, “Oh yeah, Cam IS back.” You remember when most of the Hip-Hop nation was asking the question “Where’s Cam?”. Now he’s returned with his first album in three years, Crime Pays, and nothing feels different. It didn’t elevate his status. Now one is saying the words “classic” or even that Crime Pays is the best album of 2009 (Okay, maybe Cam’ron/DipSet stans). And while sales should never really equal the success of the actual music, now there are reports coming out that Crime Pays will move around 40-45k units (How many videos has Cam put out now?). Now, I’m not saying Cam’ron’s career is done; not by a long shot. Those numbers aren’t bad but it’s almost the same as Jim Jones’ last album (Pary For Reign). Maybe Eminem’s return overshadowed Crime Pays. Maybe people want the Diplomats back together. But at the end of the day: Do you really care that Cam’ron is back? You know the drill. Vote. Oh, and if you haven’t checked out King Jerm’s Crime Pays review, do that too.

Cam’ron returns to the game after taking some time away to tend to family business with his sixth solo album titled Crime Pays. The man that was the leader of one of Hip-Hop’s most followed crews, the Diplomats, set A LOT of trends rapping with their slang and their style. Now that they are not together (NO HOMO) anymore, can Killa go from being LeBron to one man show role like D-Wade? If you ask me right now, I would have to say YES, but all that could change by the end of the album. Let’s find out!

Crime Pays Intro
Produced by Skitzo
Cam comes out the gate over some nice production just doing him. By that I mean just simply rapping and give you some comedic lines. So far so good.

Cookin’ Up
Produced by I.N.F.O & NOVA
Once again Cam looks like he hasn’t missed a step and still can spit like he did in the DipSet days. If you really think about it, Cam was Jeezy before Jeezy. That is exactly what Cam was bringing on this track.

Where I Know You From
Produced by Skitzo
Just when I made a Jeezy reference, this next song sounds just like “Get Ya Mind Right”. Don’t get it twisted, Cam put his own twist on it. I really like the hook on this one where Cam is injecting a new word into the vernacular: “Scrams”. CHECK FOR THIS ONE.

Fuck Cam #1 (Skit)
You know Cam always have the intros where he goes for the comedy.

Never Ever
Produced by Skitzo
This is one of those fun songs that Cam makes that we give him a pass for. I mean when you make songs like this, can I really take you serious? Is Cam’ron always this funny?

Curve
Produced by ARAAB Muzik & Skitzo
I notice the production on this one is DOPE. Cam is “doing him” but the way he rides the beat, got me nodding my head over here. By the way, Cam added “curve” to the hood vernacular. The song is pretty tight.

Silky (No Homo)
Produced by Skitzo
See this is another one of those fun songs that works for Cam, but we would bury someone else for trying to do. This song would have been dope had it been a DipSet group song, but Cam kept your interest through the whole song alone.

Get It In Ohio
Produced by ARAAB Muzik
This was the second “single” off the album that had the Midwest on smash. I’m not even from the area, but this song gets me hype. I do have a question: what does a gyro look like? Cam…really? DOPE SONG!

Who
Produced by Skitzo
This might be one of my favorite tracks off the album. The beat is SICK on this one. Then Cam is out there “doing him” with lines like this: “Got Louie kicks like a checkerboard/Will smack you/Then check your broad”. I can’t help but laugh and nod my head at the same time.

Grease (Skit)
Cam on the phone with some girl talking about taking dumps on each other’s property. The Set stay with the comedy!

You Know What’s Up
Featuring C.O. & Sky-Lyn; Produced by Skitzo
This song isn’t that bad, I have heard worse, it just takes too long to get to the rapping. They lose you in the first minute with all that singing. Cam puts up a respectable verse, but it’s too late because the feeling is gone.

Spend The Night
Produced by ARAAB Muzik
We have another one of those “fun” songs from Cam, but this one has Cam singing on some High School Musical steelo. He has some funny one liners, but I can’t fully vouch for this song.

Fuck Cam #2 (Skit)
Another skit where Cam hates on his own self.

Woo Hoo
Featuring 40 Cal & Byrd Lady; Produced by Skitzo
I can’t keep giving passes for Cam “doing him”, but this one is on the comedic side. I know that wasn’t the aim, but that is the way the album has turned.

Chalupa
Produced by ARAAB Muzik
Cam knows how to take a down south beat and put an up north twist on it to make it bump in both places. I really like this beat on this one, it simple but dope. Another new word has been added: “Chalupa”. Listen to the song and figure out how to use it.

Cookies-N-Apple Juice
Featuring Byrd Lady & Skitzo; Produced by Skitzo
Cam goes at the south with this one, but I’m not mad at him. For the record, I don’t not know what “Cookies N Apple Juice” means, but hopefully someone can clear this up for me. The beat bangs and I’m sure a dance will accompany this one. Check here for the video.

My Job
Produced by Skitzo
This was the first “single” off the album that got everyone checking for Cam. The song is one that everyone can relate to and it goes along with the current economic hardships that are affecting the world. DOPE SONG!

Homicide
Produced by Skitzo
Cam takes the simple beat and does his thing over it. This song isn’t anything special, just Cam “doing him”. Real Cam’ron fans will like this, but the average listener probably will not.

Fuck Cam #3 (Skit)
Same thing as the other ones.

Got It For Cheap
Featuring Skitzo; Produced by YH
This sounds like some old DipSet music, but it just seems like Cam said this on eight other songs. The song isn’t terrible, it just seems like we have been here before, and the hook is annoying!

Get It Get It
Produced by Skitzo
Cam finally raps about someone other than Cam’ron. He actually gets personal (kind of) but after all the comedy it is kind of hard to take Cam serious. The song is on the boring side.

Bottom Of The Pussy
Produced by Skitzo
Cam apologizes for hitting the bottom in this song. The song says it all, nothing to say here.

Fuck Cam #4 (Skit)
The last installment of the self hate fest. Call me crazy, but I think this was a shot at Dame.

Bottom Line:
This album was pretty good for Cam’ron. This is not a diss at Cam at all, because I like Cam’s music. I think Cam has little to no subject matter. He spit lyrics, some of them that don’t make sense, but his “swag” gets him by. Cam’s delivery gets him further than any lyrics that he says. Cam is a “Swag Rapper”; he might have even invented the art form. Rappers like this don’t give you much to work on except for good beats and nice punch lines. Cam is a vet in Hip-Hop and he did both of those on this album. The only knock is that at times it showed that he was out there just saying anything that came to mind. The album will satisfy the die hards, but it won’t stay in heavy rotation like some of his older works.

nappyPicks: “Where I Know You From”, “Curve”, “Get It In Ohio”, “Who”, & “My Job”

Download: Cam’ron – “Who”

Classic Week is going good so far huh? I thought for this week’s edition of Song of the Week, we would stop keep hitting you over the head with older stuff and check out some songs that recently came out.

One song that popped out of nowhere is Kanye & T-Pain’s “Flight School”. All auto-tune jokes aside; that shit is kind of hot (That makes two songs I really like by Pain & West). I guess Kanye wanted to show people he could still rap (“These last years been a haze like Isaac, so I close my eyes tighter than Asian I get…”). Does anybody know whose album this is going on? Kanye was also featured on a new song by The Dream, but I didn’t care for that one at all.

I also heard Ricky Ross & Birdman’s new song “Shittin’ On Them” featuring Busta Rhymes (Happy 45th B-Day by the way Birdman.). This is supposedly from the collabo album they have been talking about for a minute. I was surprised that I liked it; the beat (Especially the beat!) and hook on this one goes in. I may be curious about The H Bald Eagles Fly High that album now.

Cam’ron’s back! I guess this whole column is about me being surprised or proven wrong because I’m actually feeling most of the stuff he’s come out with since his return. Be it “I Hate My Job” or “I Used To Get In Ohio” or even “Cookies & Apple Juice” (Especially his skit with The Real). I don’t know, I usually hate most of Cam’s shit, but maybe Hip-Hop needs him? (Okay, “need” is such a strong word)

Download: Kanye West feat. T-Pain – “Flight School”
Download: Rick Ross & Birdman feat. Busta Rhymes – “Shittin’ On Them”
Download: Cam’ron – “I Used To Get It In Ohio”
Download: Cam’ron – Cookies & Apple Juice”

When I mentioned Paid In Full last week, I had no idea that I was gonna post it up this week (Back to back Cam’ron? Damn!). But I can’t front, this was actually a good movie. I’m a little under the weather today, so I’m not gonna talk type you to death.  Summary:

In the 80’s, in Harlem, the simple African-American worker of a laundry, Ace (Wood Harris), is seduced by the easy money of his friend Mitch (Mekhi Phifer) and when Mitch is arrested, he becomes a drug lord. Later, her joins Mitch and his new-friend Rico (Cam’ron) as his right arms, ruling the neighborhood. His kingdom is destroyed one year later, after successive betrayals.

“No champagne, no rice!” (Extra points if anybody can tell me what scene that’s from). Enjoy the movie folks…

Paid In Full

With the recent re-apperance of Cam’ron, I thought it was good as time as any to showcase one of the most unintentionally funniest hood films ever: Killa Season. Like most straight to DVD rapper flicks, Killa Season is full of bad acting, low quality camera work, and a tired overdone plot…

Flea was a basketball player, happy with his subtle hustle, until a Dominican connect introduced him to a new way to spread the work and make all the cake. Flea assembles his friends and decides to play it big by taking over a store and hustling’ on the corner selling drugs to whoever got money. But with more money and power also comes drama and chaos ensues when some local criminals try to bring him down.

But then again, you don’t watch films like this hoping to get Citizen Kane. I think a lotta people were expecting a movie more like the last movie Cam’ron was in Paid In Full (Which wasn’t bad at all with Cam doing a great job as Alpo). But like I said before, I find Killa Season hilarious! From Cam pissing on a dude during a dice game (Where he constantly says “No homo”) to the total jacking of the Belly sex scene that features Taral Hicks & DMX (Why?) to the jab at Mase in the beginning, there’s tons of enjoyment.

I also guess this is also a chance for you Diplomats fans to sit, watch, and cry about how it used to be. Hell Rell, Juelz, and others DipSet member’s make bad acting appearances (Actually, Jim Jones doesn’t act in the film so maybe the fallout was already happening). So if you never seen this movie (I staring at you King Jerm), grab you popcorn and get ready to laugh.

Killa is back! Not to say I’m too excited. Cam’ron finally comes out of hiding and breaks his silence in the next issue of XXL. Two back to back Diplomat covers? I guess it seems only right since Jim Jones, Juelz, & Zekey are in this month’s issue talking about the internal problems in DipSet (See that cover here). I guess Cam is trying to make a push back to the spotlight since he just released a video for his new song “I Hate My Job”.

Jay-Z/ Roc-a-fella
Bleek, Freeway, and Beans never really made it over the hump, but I’ll give you Kanye.

Eminem/ Shady
D-12 were looked at as a novelty, and Obie had the lyrics, but was catering to the wrong audience.

50 Cent/ G-Unit
Curtis and the Unit are more popular than the Set, but 50 always was at the top, never on the side.

Fat Joe/ Terror Squad
Come on, Joey was barely even making it. Cuban Link and Remy are irrelevant now.

Check out some of these videos and tell me that the Dips were not the hottest crew out at the time:

Let’s not forget the best performance at The Source Awards.

Check out Cam in this video

After seeing the response of my last column, I decided to bring it back again. This time we are discussing why Hip-Hop needs Cam’ron. I know a lot of you are shaking your heads right now, but trust me, WE NEED CAM! That is what has been missing over the last year. A lack of Cam spells a lull in Hip-Hop, and he might just be what the doctor ordered to get the game going back in the right direction.

1. Swagger is at an all time low. With all these rappers talking about “Swagger Like Us”, no one has swagger like Cam! We all know Cam invented “Swag Rap” so how can they have swag if they don’t have Cam? Maybe Jay needs to holler at Cam for his version of “Swagger Like Us” if he really wants to do big numbers. Cam used to rock seven chains at any given time with a purple mink coat, with some fur lined Air Force Ones, and driving a purple Lambo! Now who has swagger like that?

2. Rappers need a makeover. Look at the current trend in Hip-Hop, you have the “Rockstar” look, the “Hipster” look, and you got that “80’s” look, but neither one of these styles can compare to the style that Cam brings to the table. Who else had the hardest dude on the block wearing pink? In fact, who is the reason that pink became fashionable for guys? Cam is the answer to both of those questions. Dudes wasn’t wearing purses when Cam was the “epitome” of fashion in Hip-Hop!

3. There isn’t any comedy in Hip-Hop anymore. You people remember when Cam was beefing with someone. Why was that some of the funniest material you ever heard? “How is a camel riding another Camel?” Or this one: “you look like a gorilla with rabbit teeth!” Say what you will about Cam and his rhymes, but the guy comes with straight comedy to his foes. Remember when he had O’Reilly all hot under the collar on his own show. “You mad…you mad…you mad!” The game needs this humor again.

I gave you my reasons why we need Cam’ron, and I hope he is reading this and gearing up for his big comeback. After hearing some of his latest material, I hope he takes it back to the blueprint on what made him a household name in the first place. Cam if you are listening…WE NEED YOU BACK! COME BACK AND SAVE HIP-HOP!